Wise Owl Looks For More Lessons

Despite Easy Victory, Chaney Takes Temple To Task

December 09, 1999|By Malcolm Moran, Tribune Staff Writer.

The old coach is not fooled easily. Early in the season that may become the last best chance for the Temple Owls to take John Chaney to the Final Four, the coach watched his team win a game, but sounded as if it had lost.

Temple's 64-48 victory over Gonzaga in the Great Eight on Wednesday had not been nearly as convincing through Chaney's demanding filter as it had appeared through most everyone else's eyes.

Chaney had seen the Bulldogs run too many efficient plays against Temple's signature matchup zone, only to end in missed open shots. He had watched his inside players lose too many rebounds. He had seen the effects of the conspicuous absence of Pepe Sanchez, the senior guard whose sprained right ankle eventually could force Chaney to make a difficult, high-stakes decision.

Gonzaga (4-2) made just 30.6 percent of its shots, including 6 of 37 from behind the three-point line. A season ago the Bulldogs had come within a few possessions of beating Connecticut, the eventual national champion, in a regional final. A 39.9 three-point percentage was an essential part of the Bulldog equation.

But on Wednesday, before a disinterested crowd at the United Center, Richie Frahm made 2 of 15 and Matt Santangelo, a senior point guard on a pace to surpass John Stockton's school career assist record, made 1 of 9.

Gonzaga's efficiency--that is, up until miss after miss after miss--led Chaney to observe, "It's a game that we should not have won."

Few, who was 9 when Chaney began his first season as a college coach at Division II Cheyney (Pa.) State, thought about the well-constructed plays that ended so abruptly.

"Great surgery," Few said. "And the patient dies."

Yet for all of Gonzaga's glaring imperfection, Temple (3-2) was ahead by just five points with less than 18 minutes to play, and its complex and confusing combination of defenses was not breaking down the Bulldogs. Chaney's high-pitched rasp had not sounded as continuously demanding as it has on the more intense, personal nights of conference play.

Junior forward Mark Karcher led the Owls with 19 points and junior guard Lynn Greer scored 14. Temple has played five games, four of which Sanchez missed after aggravating an injury suffered in practice on Nov. 6.

Sanchez, whose international experience began when he joined Argentina's junior national team six years ago, has played 92 games for the Owls. His assist-to-turnover ratio last season was 3-1 during Temple's run to a regional championship game in the NCAA tournament. Sanchez had 101 steals to break his school record.

"Our appointed leader," Chaney called him.

But his worth can not be calculated. Sanchez has developed into a finished product of Chaney's demanding regimen with its early-morning practices, the key element in the coach's strategic structure. He now seems as much a part of the Temple tradition as the cherry-red uniforms and the variations of zones, directed by Chaney and the late Harry Litwack, that have tortured opposing coaches for decades.

Sanchez's absence creates a constant possibility of breakdowns at both ends of the floor. He has seen three doctors and Chaney said there is an appointment with a fourth on Thursday. The coach said his return may not take place until next month.

Chaney itemized the effects on his team and shook his head.

"It's my fault," he said.

"It's my fault because I built a team around a point guard who handles the ball 90 percent of the time," he said. "And we just go to our rooms and he makes the delivery. What do you want? Pizza? You want hamburger? You understand?"